Fulfilling promise to voters
Op-ed: Nazareth Illit mayor wants to preserve city's Jewish character; that doesn't make him racist
Shimon Gapso wants to preserve the Jewish character of his city, Nazareth Illit, which was built next to the Arab Nazareth. He toured southern Tel Aviv,
which is adjacent to Arab Jaffa, and saw with his own eyes that there is not a trace left in it of Jewish character. Or perhaps Israeli character? White character? How do we say it in an enlightened country without being suspected of damned racism?
Gapso doesn’t want Nazareth Illit, which was established as a Jewish city, to turn into a replica of southern Tel Aviv, and it's his right to fulfill his vision. That’s the reason he got the key to the city and it's the promise he gave his voters. His only failure is choosing the method of execution. In Israel you may do – you mustn't talk. Because when you talk about the right vision it sounds bad, and the bleeding hearts immediately attack you and declare you a hooligan, a Nazi and even Hitler. Prepare the guillotine. He will be beheaded in the square of the town whose future he fears for.
Different View
Oded Shalom
Op-ed: Instead of education for coexistence, Nazareth Illit mayor chose racist election slogan
Every person is entitled to choose not only his place of residence, but also his neighbors, and that's not arrogance. That's what our Sages of Blessed Memory meant when they said, "Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are." If you want your children to make it to university, you should settle in a place pushing for a good matriculation certificate. And those who fear for the security of their family in a certain area, I hope they have the budget to move to a more protected area.
Arabs, it should be clarified and stressed, are not like a population of refugees and illegal infiltrators. But I do believe Gapso when he claims that if Jews had received the same treatment Arabs receive in Nazareth Illit – not just in Europe at the time, but also in today's Arab countries, and even in today's Palestinian Authority – he wouldn't have to take steps for separation.
When have you last read about a smear campaign against Arabs who sold apartment or lands to Jews? Our cousins have learned what we don’t know how to do yet – to act and to keep quiet. To dictate a policy and punish those who deviate from it without waving flags. Their racism is much more dangerous than ours because still waters run deep.
